Whisper in the Wind
by Elizabeth Keyes
Summary: All his life, everyone thought Draco Malfoy lived the perfect life, but living with an abusive father isn't so perfect. After Draco's mother is killed by his father, he'd given up all hope of every feeling any emotion except hatred again.


He sat alone in a cold and empty mansion. He heard his father having another go at his mother. His father's drinking often resulted in more and more scars and tears from his mother. Draco Malfoy had nothing to do but sit in his room with the door locked and wait for the morning to come. His father didn't give Narcissa, his mother, enough credit. To him she was just an easy target. A target to hit, perhaps? Or maybe a target for a bit more lustful action. Whatever the reason, his mother was abused every night. He wasn't allowed to hate his father, either. If he would ever show his true feelings of his family, he would be just as badly abused as his mother.  
  
"OW! Lucius! Stop! Please stop! I hate you! I hate you!" the cries of his mother rang in his ears. He heard loud smacking noises and fabric ripping.  
  
"DAH! Bottle--won't--open!" Lucius, his father, yelled at his mother. "OPEN IT!"  
  
"No! I won't!" She cried.  
  
"DRACO! GET OUT HERE!" Lucius screamed.  
  
"NO! I won't let you hurt my son!" Narcissa screamed and flung herself in front of the doorway into her son's room. The door into his room shook a bit. Draco pulled the covers over his head and stuffed his face into his pillow. Maybe if he wished hard enough, it'd go away. His mother's cries soon stopped as she let out a shriek and a loud crashing sound was heard. The knob on his door started jiggling rapidly. He heard great poundings coming from it as it shook violently in its hinges.  
  
"LET ME IN!" Lucius kept pounding on the door and rattling the knob. "LET ME IN, DAMMIT!"  
  
Draco shut his eyes tightly closed and plugged his ears with his fingers. He sat up and started rocking back and forth. He was sick and tired of this every night. He wanted to runaway. He needed to get out, somehow, before it was too late.  
  
Finally the shaking and pounding stopped and there was a great 'thud' in the hall. Draco silently climbed out of his bed, his legs wobbling as he opened the door and found his father lying next to his door. He was as white as a ghost. His mother was only a few feet behind him; a huge gash in her head that was still bleeding, the smashed bottle of liquor beside her. A piece of glass was stuck in the back of her head.  
  
'Not again,' Draco thought. 'This can't be happening again. This time I'll save her, before the same thing happens to her as...Accius, his dear sister. Oh how he missed her. She taught him how to stay away from his father. She often protected him, and in doing so, risked her own life. It was this that killed her.  
  
Lucius had been gaining on him. He'd had another drinking round. He ran down the dark corridor, but tripped over a piece of glass that cut off his toe. He sat, sobbing with pain, rocking back and forth. He passed out after Accius had heard his crying from her room and exited to the hallway. She bravely took a stand in front of him and told Lucius not to harm Draco. He bashed her over the head with a glass bottle, and she fell to the ground. Lucius backed away, not knowing what he'd done. He passed out several minutes later. Hours later, Narcissa entered the hallway and saw her family lying on the ground, bleeding and not breathing. She got them all to St. Mungo's in quite a hurry, but not quite fast enough. They weren't able to save Accius from such a horrible fate. He wouldn't let the same thing happen to his mother. He wouldn't.  
  
He ran to the fireplace and thrust floo powder into it. He stuck his head in and shouted "St. Mungo's!"  
  
Soon a plump lady appeared in front of Draco's face.  
  
"May I help you?" She asked.  
  
"Quick! It's an emergency! Can you send someone over?" Draco asked, worriedly.  
  
"Yes, yes someone will be there in a minute. Your name is?"  
  
"Draco Malfoy, of the Malfoy Manor. Please hurry."  
  
He left the fireplace, and soon a tall man was in the room.  
  
"Where is the patient?" he asked.  
  
"Follow me! Quick!" His voice had a tone of urgency. He lead the way down the hallway to where his mother was. The man rushed down to her and summoned a stretcher to put her on.  
  
"Thank you for contacting us so quickly. We should be able to save her. I will ask you not to follow me, but stay here. She should be back in a week. Good night, Mister Malfoy," he said. He and Narcissa soon disappeared.  
  
Draco silently went back to his room and fell asleep, too scared to have any thoughts. He fell asleep, emotionless. He couldn't recall any dreams he'd had the next morning. He cautiously made his way down to the kitchen and saw the family's house elf, Gurby.  
  
"Young Master Malfoy? Would you like anything?" Gurby asked, quickly running to Draco's service.  
  
"Er--some...breakfast would be nice," Draco said, shaking. The picture of his mother was still in his mind. He wondered where his father was. Most likely upstairs experiencing the morning side effect.  
  
Gurby ran to the refrigerator and took out eggs and flour. He quickly put them into a skillet and started to make breakfast.  
  
"Has my father come through yet?" Draco asked. He knew his father wouldn't remember what happened last night. He never did. He didn't even know he killed his own daughter. Someday he'd get him back. Someday he'd kill him. Someday he'd lift this burden off his chest.  
  
"Yes, young master, long ago. Master Malfoy awoke many hours ago and left for work."  
  
Work. He was always at work. Did he even realize he had a son? But...was he at work or work?  
  
"The post arrived a while, young master. Would young master want Gurby to bring it to him?"  
  
"No, that won't be necessary. I'll get it myself," Malfoy got up and went into the living room. He picked up the latest issue of the "Daily Prophet".  
  
"Boy Who Lived, Threatened by Muggles" was the headline on the front page. Draco didn't even bother to read the article. He simply threw down the parchment and grunted.  
  
"Poor, perfect little Boy-Who-Lived," mocked Draco. "He has to live with his dreadful muggles because his ickle parents died because of their own stupidity! And he's famous for it! He feels so sorry for himself because he doesn't have a mother or father. He doesn't realize how lucky he is not to have them."  
  
Draco checked his wristwatch. It read 3:20. 'Ah, father should soon be home with another pathetic gift to win my affection,' Draco thought.  
  
Draco waited a while longer, but his father didn't return as expected. Gurby entered the room and informed Draco the food was ready to be eaten. Draco sat at the empty dining room table; in the empty, cold room; in an empty, old mansion.  
  
The old manner had been built sometime in the 1500s. It had been in the Malfoy family for ages. His father had inherited it and moved into it shortly after he and Narcissa had married. Around the time Draco had been born, Lucius had started to support Voldemort. Draco hated this house. He couldn't think of one happy memory in it. In fact, he couldn't think of one happy memory at all.  
  
Later that night, Lucius returned home. He found Draco in the living room sitting on the couch working on his homework for school.  
  
"Ah, Draco," he said. "Where is your mother? I haven't seen her all day."  
  
"Well, father," Draco said, spiteful. "She's in the hospital. Don't you remember what happened last night."  
  
"Why yes," Lucius replied, "Gurby called in a few of our friends. We had quite a get-together. Don't you remember that?"  
  
"Of course," Draco numbly said. "After the party.you were-drunk, father. The same as every night. You almost killed her!" He knew an explosion would quickly erupt from his father, so he fled to his room.  
  
"I've got to get out of here," Draco said while putting all of his things in his trunk. "Soon."  
  
"SON!" Lucius yelled from the other side of the door. They were back to shaking the door and rattling the handle. "SON, LET ME IN!"  
  
Draco had fallen asleep early that night. It was the first night of many that he'd gotten any real sleep. It was the first night of many that he hadn't fallen asleep to the sounds of his shrieking mother and his father beating her.  
  
The next morning when he woke up, Draco couldn't find Lucius anywhere. Gurby told him that he hadn't seen Lucius since the night before after he left.  
  
"Where did he go?" Draco asked.  
  
"Master did not tell Gurby," Gurby stated. "Master only said that Master wouldn't be back soon, sir."  
  
And he didn't. Draco hadn't seen or heard from Lucius since then. A week had passed, and he had been notified that today his mother would come home.  
  
"Slightly unfortunate, Master Malfoy," the man from the hospital said. "I am afraid that he we had to use a muggle method to cure her."  
  
"It wasn't so bad, Draco," Narcissa said. "They simply put a sleeping charm on me and sewed me up. Thank you, Mister-?"  
  
"Williams," the man said.  
  
"Thank you, Mister Williams," Narcissa replied. "Your services are greatly appreciated."  
  
With a "pop" Williams was gone.  
  
"Draco, dear, I'm so sorry, " She enveloped her son into a tight hug. "It's not his fault. He shouldn't be like this. If it weren't for-nevermind. He didn't hurt you while I was away, did he?"  
  
She thoroughly looked over him, checking for any bruises.  
  
"I'm fine, mum," Draco said, pulling away. "I've learned to ignore him, stay out of his way."  
  
"I'm so sorry you had to see that," Narcissa apologized.  
  
"I didn't. I only heard it from my room," Draco said.  
  
"Well, I'm sorry, all the same. No one should have to bear that. We shouldn't have to go through that, but it's not his fault-"  
  
"WHAT'S NOT HIS FAULT ABOUT IT?" Draco screamed. "IT'S NOT HIS FAULT THAT HE HURTS YOU EVERY NIGHT? IT'S NOT HIS FAULT THAT I GO TO BED EVERY NIGHT, WISHING I WAS AN ORPHAN?" He slowly sat down on the couch. "It's not his fault that he killed my sister?"  
  
"I'm so sorry," Narcissa sympathized as she sat down next to her son, trying her best to hold the tears in. "We'll have to stay strong, son. You'll be safe and away from here soon, but I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to bear it a little longer. It'll get better, you'll see."  
  
"NARCISSA!" Lucius Malfoy crashed through the front door. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE, WOMAN! COME HERE! NOW!"  
  
Narcissa stood up and ran to her husband. She smiled meekly. "Yes?"  
  
"MAKE SUPPER! I'm hungry!" Lucius said.  
  
"It's one o'clock in the morning, Lucius," Narcissa said.  
  
"Does it look like I care?" Lucius asked, growing impatient.  
  
"N-no, but Lucius, don't you think-"  
  
"GET IN THE KITCHEN AND MAKE ME SOME FOOD!" He slapped her and pushed her onto the floor. "NOW!"  
  
"Yes, yes," she got up and scrambled into the kitchen, quickly followed by Draco.  
  
"Mum, can't we leave him?" He asked. "Can't we just leave? Go somewhere better? Live a normal life?"  
  
"Sweetie, I'm afraid not," Narcissa said. "Besides, being normal's over- rated. No one is normal. There's no such thing as a normal family, I'm afraid."  
  
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING TO MY SON FOR?" Lucius had burst into the room and was now accusing her. Draco ran out of the room and out of the house. He ran all the way out of his backyard and into the wood behind it. From here he could see the house. He could see the kitchen window. He saw his mother's head through it. Every so often it would show expressions of pain. After a few minutes her head disappeared. Draco saw Lucius's head cross the window. Draco had no intention of going back to the house that night. He fell asleep on the hard ground.  
  
Draco woke up the next morning and decided to proceed into the house. He went back in through the kitchen. He immediately wished he hadn't.  
  
On the kitchen floor lied his mother. Her face was as pale as the sky on a cloudy day. Her neck had red marks all around it in the shape of hands. She wasn't moving, but her eyes were still open. Her eyes, once beautifully blue and careless, were now dull and lifeless. It took all of his strength just to touch her. Her hand was so cold. He couldn't bear look at her any longer. He fell on his knees and started to cry.  
  
"What are you crying over, Draco?" Lucius entered the room.  
  
"You killedher," Draco said. "YOU KILLED MY MOTHER! YOU BASTARD! I'LL KILL YOU! COME HERE! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Draco lunged for his father. He fell on his face. He got back up, blood seeping down his cheek. "You killed my only parent."  
  
Lucius's face turned white. He ran out of the room. That was the last time Draco ever saw him again. 


End file.
